Monday, January 28, 2013

Hilary Clinton's Speech On Women's Rights

I'm working on a new post about the politicians in our country who spout off on the government taking their money and guns while they use their role in goverment to impose their religious beliefs on me. You know the ones. They are, well, let's face it, not too bright. They believe I can magically repell rape sperm. They want me to have a transvaginal ultrasound as some kind of punishment for getting an abortion, even though abortion is still legal in our country. And in spite of railing against abortion, they want to reduce my access to birth control because it's against their religion. Yup, they ain't the sharpest knives in the drawer. Yet they are making policy that affects my personal freedom.While I write, I thought I'd post a speech on women's rights that I found inspiring. It was given by Hilary Clinton. This is my favorite paragraph: "Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me. But they
all seem to. It doesn’t matter what country they’re in or what religion they
claim. They want to control women. They want to control how we dress, they want
to control how we act, they even want to control the decisions we make about
our own health and bodies. Yes, it is hard to believe that even
here at home, we have to stand up for women’s rights and reject efforts to
marginalize any one of us, because America needs to set an example for the
entire world. And it seems clear to me that to do that, we have to
live our own values and we have to defend our own values. We need to respect
each other, empower all our citizens, and find common ground."Here's the link to the speech from the US Dept of State's website. I pasted the text below. It's a very good speech. Meryl Streep introduces her.http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/03/185604.htm

MS. STREEP: Thank you. I feel like I’ve been plugged into an energy source
that’s bigger than the one generated by oil, gas, coal, or nuclear. It’s girl
power. (Cheers.) This one’s going to electrify the next century.

Thank you very much. It’s a great honor for me to be here
because we women really do look very hard at each other, like, “Check my
jacket.” (Laughter.) We can be hard on each other. But we really look so deeply
because we want inspiration.

Here’s what happens when I compare myself to Hillary Clinton.
(Laughter.) Which every living American woman my age has done. (Laughter.) At
one point or another, maybe too often over the years, I find a lot of
similarities. (Laughter.) We’re roughly the same age. We both have two brothers
– mine are annoying. (Laughter.) We both grew up in middle class homes with
spirited, big-hearted mothers who encouraged us to do something valuable and
interesting with our lives.

We both went from public high schools to distinguished women’s
colleges. (Cheers.) And we both called home collect from the dorm phone
freshman year from the colleges saying, “I’m not as smart as the other girls
here. I should leave.” (Laughter.) And both of our mothers said, “Don’t be
ridiculous, you’re not a quitter.” And we both went on to graduate school at
Yale, which is where the two paths diverged in the wood. (Laughter.) Where
Hillary aimed her life and where it landed was evident very early on. While I
was a cheerleader, she was the president of the student government. (Laughter.)
Where I was the lead in all three musicals, people who know her tell me she
should never be encouraged to sing. (Laughter.)

Regardless, she has turned out to be the voice of her
generation. I’m an actress, and she is the real deal. (Applause.) Two years ago
when Tina Brown and Diane von Furstenberg first envisioned this conference,
they asked me to do a play, a reading, called – the name of the play was called
Seven. It was taken from transcripts, real testimony from real women activists
around the world. I was the Irish one, and I had no idea that the real women
would be sitting in the audience while we portrayed them. So I was doing a
pretty ghastly Belfast accent. I was just – I was imitating my friend Liam
Neeson, really, and I sounded like a fellow. (Laughter.) It was really bad.

So I was so mortified when Tina, at the end of the play, invited
the real women to come up on stage and I found myself standing next to the
great Inez McCormack. (Applause.) And I felt slight next to her, because I’m an
actress and she is the real deal. She has put her life on the line. Six of
those seven women were with us in the theater that night. The seventh,
Mukhtaran Bibi, couldn’t come because she couldn’t get out of Pakistan. You
probably remember who she is. She’s the young woman who went to court because
she was gang-raped by men in her village as punishment for a perceived slight
to their honor by her little brother. All but one of the 14 men accused were
acquitted, but Mukhtaran won the small settlement. She won $8,200, which she
then used to start schools in her village. More money poured in from
international donations when the men were set free. And as a result of her
trial, the then president of Pakistan, General Musharraf, went on TV and said,
“If you want to be a millionaire, just get yourself raped.”

But that night in the theater two years ago, the other six brave
women came up on the stage. Anabella De Leon of Guatemala pointed to Hillary
Clinton, who was sitting right in the front row, and said, “I met her and my
life changed.” And all weekend long, women from all over the world said the
same thing: I’m alive because she came to my village, put her arm around me,
and had a photograph taken together. I’m alive because she went on our local TV
and talked about my work, and now they’re afraid to kill me. I’m alive because
she came to my country and she talked to our leaders, because I heard her
speak, because I read about her. I’m here today because of that, because of
those stores. I didn’t know about this. I never knew any of it. And I think
everybody should know. This hidden history Hillary has, the story of her
parallel agenda, the shadow diplomacy unheralded, uncelebrated, careful,
constant work on behalf of women and girls that she has always conducted
alongside everything else a first lady, a senator, and now Secretary of State
is obliged to do.

And it deserves to be amplified. This willingness to take it, to
lead a revolution – and revelation, beginning in Beijing in 1995, when she
first raised her voice to say the words you’ve heard many times throughout this
conference: Women’s rights are human rights. When Hillary Clinton stood up in
Beijing to speak that truth, her hosts were not the only ones who didn’t
necessarily want to hear it. Some of her husband’s advisors also were nervous
about the speech, fearful of upsetting relations with China. But she faced down
the opposition at home and abroad, and her words continue to hearten women
around the world and have reverberated down the decades.

We’ve all spent a lot of time thinking about Hillary Clinton
because – poor girl – she represents us, Hillary is us and we are Hillary. But
while we’re busy relating to her, judging her, assessing her hair, her jackets,
supporting her, worrying about her – is she getting enough sleep? She’s just been
busy working, doing it, making those words “Women’s rights are human rights”
into something every leader in every country now knows is a linchpin of
American policy. It’s just so much more than a rhetorical triumph. We’re
talking about what happened in the real world, the institutional change that
was a result of that stand she took, just for one example, a small thing.

Now, because she is Secretary of State, every desk officer in
every country around the world knows that they should be aware of the fertility
rate of that country, because the fertility rate tells us whether that country
will be able to feed, educate, and employ its citizens. This had not really
been a priority before. When officials would tend to pay more attention to
counting tanks and troops and courting the tribal elders, they didn’t really
focus on babies or listen closely to their mothers. They didn’t look that
specifically at women’s health, education, or employment statistics.

Now we know that the higher the education and the involvement of
women in a culture and economy, the more secure the nation. It’s a metric we
use throughout our foreign policy, and in fact, it’s at the core of our
development policy. It is a big, important shift in thinking. Horrifying
practices like female genital cutting were not at the top of the agenda because
they were part of the culture and we didn’t want to be accused of imposing our
own cultural values.

But what Hillary Clinton has said over and over again is, “A
crime is a crime, and criminal behavior cannot be tolerated.” Everywhere she
goes, she meets with the head of state and she meets with the women leaders of
grassroots organizations in each country. This goes automatically on her
schedule. As you’ve seen, when she went to Burma – our first government trip
there in 40 years. She met with its dictator and then she met with Aung San Suu
Kyi, the woman he kept under detention for 15 years, the leader of Burma’s
pro-democracy movement.

This isn’t just symbolism. It’s how you change the world. These
are the words of Dr. Gao Yaojie of China: “I will never forget our first
meeting. She said I reminded her of her mother. And she noticed my small bound
feet. I didn’t need to explain too much, and she understood completely. I could
tell how much she wanted to understand what I, an 80-something year old lady,
went through in China – the Cultural Revolution, uncovering the largest tainted
blood scandal in China, house arrest, forced family separation. I talked about
it like nothing and I joked about it, but she understood me as a person, a
mother, a doctor. She knew what I really went through.”

When Vera Stremkovskaya, a lawyer and human rights activist from
Belarus met Hillary Clinton a few years ago, they took a photograph together.
And she said to one of the Secretary’s colleagues, “I want that picture.” And
the colleague said, “I will get you that picture as soon as possible.” And
Stremkovskaya said, “I need that picture.” And the colleague said, “I promise
you.” And Stremkovskaya said, “You don’t understand. That picture will be my
bullet-proof vest.” Never give up. Never, never, never, never, never give up.
That is what Hillary Clinton embodies.

And the last thing I want to say is that it is not a simple job
to be a role model. (Laughter.) It is not just being endlessly compassionate,
polite, and well groomed. It’s equal parts being who you actually are and what
people hope you will be. It’s representing for all women our very best selves.
It’s an enormous burden to be placed upon any sweetly (inaudible) rounded
shoulders. But that’s what we ask of her.

So it’s my job today as cheerleader-in-chief down here in front
of the team – (laughter) – to wave the pompoms and cheer, shout out
encouragement to our Madam Secretary for her willingness to take it all on – the
hostility and the sniping and the special scrutiny and the heavy artillery.
Artillery rhymes with Hillary. (Laughter.) I need to make a poem. (Laughter.)
Real and metaphorical, you all came through the metal detectors today that has
been aimed at her. We ask her to take on one more thing, and that is our
gratitude for her willingness to step into the light, for her willingness to
bring light into the world. This is what you get when you play a world leader.
(Applause and cheers.) But if you want a real world leader and you’re really,
really lucky, this is what you get. (Applause and cheers.)

SECRETARY CLINTON:So how
do you like my jacket? (Laughter and applause.) I cannot believe what just
happened. (Laughter.) I really had no idea what was going to be portrayed or
done by Meryl. I thought we might get some extraordinary renditions of everyone
from Aung San Suu Kyi to Indira Gandhi, a reprise of Margaret Thatcher. And it
was quite astonishing because I’ve always admired her. And as she said, we do
unfortunately throughout our lives as girls and women often cast an appraising
eye on each other. I’m just glad she didn’t do a movie called The Devil Wears
Pantsuits. (Laughter.)

But just as I marked various stages of my life by remembering
what amazing role she was playing at the time, it is quite a humbling
experience to have someone who I admire so greatly say what she said today.
Because the work that I’ve done has been work that I felt drawn to for some of
the same reasons that Meryl and I share these generational experiences,
particularly these big-hearted mothers who challenged us to go as far as our
efforts could take us.

So here we are at the end – it truly is the end – of the
conference that has brought all of these women of the world, in the world, to
New York. And I want to thank Tina Brown and her entire team that worked so
hard to enable everyone to see what I get to see all the time. (Applause.) I
just can’t thank you enough. (Applause.)

Because for me, it has not been so much work as a mission, it
has not been as strenuous as it has been inspiring, to have had the chance
throughout my life, but certainly in these last 20 years, to have the privilege
of meeting women and girls in our own country and then throughout the world who
are taking a stand, whose voices are being heard, who are assuming the risks
that come with sticking your neck out, whether you are a democracy activist in
Burma or a Georgetown law student in the United States. (Applause.)

My life has been enriched, and I want yours to be as well. I am
thrilled that so many of you have taken the time out of your own lives to
celebrate these stories of these girls and women. And of course, now I hope
that through your own efforts, through your own activism, through the
foundations, through your political involvement, through your businesses,
through every channel you have, you will leave here today thinking about what
you too can do. Because when I flag in energy, when I do recognize that what my
friends are telling me – that I need more sleep – is probably true, I think
about the women whom I have had the honor to work with. Women like Dr. Gao, who
Meryl met, who is about – well, she’s shorter than the podium. She is in her
‘80s now. She did have bound feet. She became a doctor and she was the
physician who sounded the alarm about HIV/AIDS despite the Chinese Government’s
efforts for years to silence her.

Or I think about Vera, the activist from Belarus whom I met.
She’s worked so hard to shine a spotlight on the abuses happening right inside
Europe one more time – another regime that believes silencing voices, locking
up dissidents, rigging elections, is the only way to stay in power. So she and
her allies brave the abuse every single day to say no, there is another way.

Or Inex, who Meryl also mentioned, who I got to know during our
efforts on behalf of the peace process in Northern Ireland. And she was
reaching across all of these deep divides between the communities there, trying
to forge understanding and build bridges. And like Muhtaren, the Pakistani
young woman who had been so brutally assaulted for some absurd remnant out of
an ancient belief in settling scores between families which should have no
place in any country in the 21st century – (applause) – she was expected to
kill herself. Well, of course; you’ve been shamed, you’ve been dishonored;
through no fault of your own, you are now dead to us, so just finish the job. Well,
she not only didn’t, but she is a living rebuke to not only those who assaulted
her but to the government that did not recognize it needs to protect all of its
girls and women, because without their full involvement in their society, there
can never be the progress that is so necessary.

Now, I doubt any of these women would have ever imagined being
mentioned on a stage by an Oscar-winning actress. I know I didn’t imagine I
would be so mentioned on this stage. (Laughter.) But they are because they are
special. We know about their stories. Somehow, we have seen their struggles
break through the indifference and the resistance to telling the stories of
girls and women who are struggling against such odds across the world.

But they also represent so much more. Because this hall – I know
because I know many of you – are filled with women and men who are on the front
lines fighting for change, for justice, for freedom, for equal rights. And
there are tens of millions more who need our support. So what does it mean to
be a Woman in the World? Well, I too believe it means facing up to the
obstacles you confront, and each of us confront different kinds. It means never
giving up – giving up on yourself, giving up on your potential, giving up on
your future. It means waking early, working hard, putting a family, a
community, a country literally on your back, and building a better life.

You heard from Zin Mar Aung, the Burmese democracy activist who
spoke earlier. When I met her late last year when I, on your behalf, on behalf
of our country, went to Burma, I discussed with her and other activists what
civil society would now be able to do to further the political and the economic
reforms that the people so desperately need. And we did honor her along with
nine extraordinary other women as International Women of Courage at the State
Department.

She, as you could see, came out of prison not embittered,
although she had every right to be so, but determined, determined to make her
contribution. She didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself, to worry whether
her hair was the right shade or the right length. She got to work. And because
of her, she’s founded four organizations, she’s working with young people and
women to build civil society and citizenship. She raises funds for orphanages,
she helps the families of political prisoners trying to re-enter into society,
and she is one of those watering the seeds of democracy.

Or consider the young Nepali woman Suma, who sang so beautifully
for us. (Applause.) You know what her story was. Six years old, sold into
indentured servitude, working under desperate conditions, not allowed to go to
school, not even allowed to speak her own native language. But then finally rescued
by an NGO, an organization supported by the United States State Department,
your tax dollars, called Room to Read, helped her enroll in a local school.
We’ve helped 1,200 girls across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
complete their secondary education.

So there is much we can do together. And I have to tell you, I
thought it was exquisitely appropriate as I woke up and was getting ready this
morning to open The New York Times front page and see Christine Lagarde and
Angela Merkel there. (Applause.) I know both of them and I think they are
worthy of our appreciation and admiration, because boy, do they have hard jobs.
Christine, who was here, is demonstrating not only her leadership at the IMF
but also sending a message that there is no longer any reason that women cannot
achieve in business, finance, the economy. And Chancellor Merkel is carrying
Europe on her shoulders, trying to navigate through this very difficult
economic crisis.

Now, I also heard a report of the call to action and the passion
that Leymah Gbowee, our Nobel Peace Prize winner, along with President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf from Liberia summoned you to. Now, for those of you who have
seen the movie Pray the Devil Back to Hell, you know what happened in Liberia
in the spring of 2003. But for others of you who may not yet have seen it, I
urge you to do so, because thousands of women from all walks of life –
Christians and Muslims together – flooded the streets, marching, singing,
praying. Dressed all in white, they sat in a fish market under the hot sun
under a banner that said: “The women of Liberia want peace now.” And they built
a network and they delivered for their children and for future generations. It
was an extraordinary accomplishment. (Applause.)

And when the peace talks finally happened in Ghana – not in
Liberia – they went to Ghana. They staged a sit-in at the negotiations, linked
arms, blocked the doors until the men inside reached an agreement. So the peace
was signed, the dictator fled, but still they did not rest. They turned their
energies to building an enduring peace. They worked to elect Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, who became the first woman ever elected president of an African
country. And in January, I had the honor of attending her second inauguration.
(Applause.)

I just saw my good friend, President Jahjaga of Kosovo. She’s a
very young president, but already her life is a testament for what women can do
to promote peace and security. She was still a student when the war started.
She saw so much suffering. She wanted to help. So after finishing her studies,
she became a police officer. She worked closely with international troops to
forge a fragile peace. She rose through the ranks and eventually became the
leader of the new Kosovo police force. And then just last year, she became the
first woman elected president anywhere in the Balkans. (Applause.) And she has
worked to bring her country together to promote the rule of law, ethnic
reconciliation, regional stability – all the while standing up for the rights
and opportunities of women and girls.

You can look around the world today and you can see the
difference that individual women leaders are making. Dilma Rousseff in Brazil,
former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who’s now leading UN women. They
carry an enormous load for the rest of us, because it is hard for any leader –
male or female. But I don’t fear contradiction when I say it is harder for
women leaders. There are so many built-in expectations, stereotypes,
caricatures that are still deeply embedded in psyches and cultures.

When I sat down alone for dinner with Aung San Suu Kyi back in
November, it really did feel like meeting an old friend, even though it was the
first time we’ve had a chance to see each other in person. Of course, from afar
I had admired her and appreciated her courage. I went to the house where she
had been unjustly imprisoned. Over dinner, we talked about the national
struggle, but we also talked about the personal struggle. How does one who has
been treated so unjustly overcome that personal sense of anger, of the years
that were lost, families that were no longer seen, in order to be a leader that
unites and brings people together? Nelson Mandela set such a high standard, and
he often told me how going to prison forced him to overcome the anger he felt
as a young man, because he knew when he walked out that prison door, if he were
still angry, if he still was filled with hatred, he would still be in prison.

Now, Aung San Suu Ky, like Nelson Mandela, would have been
remembered in history forever if she had not made the decision to enter
politics, as he did as well. So there she is at, I think, 67, out traveling in
an open car through the heat of the countryside, meeting crowds of tens of
thousands, even hundreds of thousands, absorbing their hopes that they are
putting onto her. She knows that when she crosses into politics, even though it
is ultimately the way change is made that can last, she moves from being an
icon to a politician. I know that route. (Laughter.) And I know how hard it is to
be able to balance one’s ideals, one’s aspirations, with the give and take of
any political process anywhere in the world.

Now, we can tell stories all night and we can talk about the
women who have inspired us. But what inspires me is not just who they are, but
what they do. They roll their sleeves up and they get to work. And this has
such important implications for our own country and for our national security,
because our most important goals – from making peace and countering extremism
to broadening prosperity and advancing democracy – depend to a very large
degree on the participation and partnership of women.

Nations that invest in women’s employment, health, and education
are just more likely to have better outcomes. Their children will be healthier
and better educated. And all over the world, we’ve seen what women do when they
get involved in helping to bring peace. So this is not just the right thing to
do for us to hold up these women, to support them, to encourage their
involvement; this is a strategic imperative.

And that’s why at the State Department, I’ve made women a
cornerstone of American foreign policy. I’ve instructed our diplomats and
development experts to partner with women, to find ways to engage and build on
their unique strengths, help women start businesses, help girls attend school,
push that women activists will be involved in peace talks and elections. It
also means taking on discrimination, marginalization, rape as a tactic of war.
I have seen the terrible abuses and what that does to the lives of women, and I
know that we cannot rest until it is ended.

In December, we launched a U.S. National Action Plan on Women,
Peace, and Security, which is our roadmap for how we accelerate and
institutionalize efforts across the United States Government to advance women’s
participation. And we’re taking on some really tough problems. We’re trying to
build local capacity. We’re giving grants to train women activists and
journalists in Kenya in early-warning systems for violence. We’re supporting a
new trauma center for rape victims in Sudan. We’re helping women in the Central
African Republic access legal and economic services. We’re improving the
collection of medical evidence for the prosecution of gender-based violence in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And that’s just the beginning, because from around the world,
from Iraq and Afghanistan to Sudan to the new transitional democracies in the
Middle East and North Africa, we’re expecting our embassies to develop local
strategies to empower women politically, economically, and socially.

But we are watching carefully what is happening. We are
concerned about the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. They held
so much promise, but they also carried real risks, especially for women. We saw
women on the front lines of the revolutions, most memorably in Cairo’s Tahrir
Square. They marched, they blogged, they tweeted, they risked their lives
alongside their sons and brothers – all in the name of dignity and opportunity.
But after the revolution, too often they have found their attempts to
participate in their new democracies blocked. We were delighted that our great
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg went on a State Department-sponsored
trip to Egypt and Tunisia. And while there, she rightly said the daughters of
the Middle East “should be able to aspire and achieve based on the talent God
gave them and not be held back by any laws made by men.” (Applause.)

Just a few weeks ago in a town hall meeting in Tunis, a young
woman wearing a head scarf stood up and talked about her experience working in
partnership with the U.S. Embassy in a program that we call Bridge to
Democracy. She said that often people she met were surprised that a young women
wearing a hijab would work with Americans, and that we would work with her.
Gradually, she said, these preconceptions broke down and increasingly people
are just eager to find new partners to help build their new democracy. I told
her that in America, in Tunisia, anywhere in the world, women should have the
right to make their own choices about what they wear, how they worship, the
jobs they do, the causes they support. These are choices women have to make for
themselves, and they are a fundamental test of democracy.

Now, we know that young woman in Tunisia and her peers across
the region already are facing extremists who will try to strip their rights,
curb their participation, limit their ability to make choices for themselves.
Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me. But they all seem
to. It doesn’t matter what country they’re in or what religion they claim. They
want to control women. They want to control how we dress, they want to control
how we act, they even want to control the decisions we make about our own
health and bodies. (Applause.) Yes, it is hard to believe that even here at
home, we have to stand up for women’s rights and reject efforts to marginalize
any one of us, because America needs to set an example for the entire world.
(Applause.) And it seems clear to me that to do that, we have to live our own
values and we have to defend our own values. We need to respect each other,
empower all our citizens, and find common ground.

We are living in what I call the Age of Participation. Economic,
political, and technological changes have empowered people everywhere to shape
their own destinies in ways previous generations could never have imagined. All
these women – these Women in the World – have proven that committed
individuals, often with help, help from their friends, can make a difference in
their own lives and far beyond.

So let me have the great privilege of ending this conference by
challenging each of you. Every one of us needs to be part of the solution. Each
of us must truly be a Woman in the World. We need to be as fearless as the
women whose stories you have applauded, as committed as the dissidents and the
activists you have heard from, as audacious as those who start movements for
peace when all seems lost. Together, I do believe that it is part of the American
mission to ensure that people everywhere, women and men alike, finally have the
opportunity to live up to their own God-given potential. So let’s go forth and
make it happen. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

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